Wayne Gretzky lending his voice to 'The Simpsons'

Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky will become the first hockey player to lend his voice to The Simpsons, when he appears in an episode set to air next month.

Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky will become the first hockey player to lend his voice to The Simpsons, when he appears in an episode set to air next month.

Simpsons executive producer Al Jean tells NHL.com that the show was looking for ''heroes of winter'' for the Dec. 11th episode ''and there couldn't be a bigger hockey hero than Wayne Gretzky.''

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Gretzky, known as ''The Great One'' in hockey circles, won four Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers before moving on to play for Los Angeles, St. Louis and the New York Rangers. The Oilers tweeted out a picture of the cartoon version of Gretzky, in which he has four fingers on each hand and yellow skin, just like other ''Simpsons'' characters.

The league's website says that Gretzky recorded his role over the summer.