Latest rumblings: Stars working on Richards; Bergenheim could test market

The Dallas Stars remain hopeful in their efforts to move Brad Richards' rights in order to recoup some asset value.

But the clock is ticking toward July 1, when Richards will be an unrestricted free agent, and he holds all the cards thanks to his no-movement clause.

"We continue to chip away here," Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk told ESPN.com on Tuesday. "Our intention is to move his rights and hope to do that prior to the draft here."

Nieuwendyk would not offer up any other details, but our suspicion is that he's had some serious offers for the rights to the star center. The question is whether the Stars can ever convince Richards to waive his no-movement clause. Of course, if you're Richards, why not just look at all your options July 1?

Winger Jamie Langenbrunner, meanwhile, is also UFA-bound July 1. The Stars will try to keep him within financial reason.

"We've had an initial discussion," Nieuwendyk said. "We'd like to keep Jamie, but obviously it has to be worked out the right way for both sides. I anticipate we'll have another discussion before July 1."

Weber and the Preds

The Predators ensured two things when they filed for club-elected salary arbitration on Shea Weber last weekend: he'll be at camp in September and no other team can give him an offer sheet in July.

In the meantime, the Preds and Weber's new agent, Kevin Epp, are trying to hammer out a deal for the restricted free agent.

"We've been in talks with Nashville and we'll continue to talk over the next week or so," Epp, who runs Titan Sports Management, told ESPN.com on Tuesday. "They obviously want to get him signed, but it has to make sense for both sides."

Epp also represents pending RFA blueliner Josh Gorges of the Montreal Canadiens and said there hasn't been any talks on that front yet.

Bergenheim and the Bolts

We quoted Lightning GM Steve Yzerman on Monday saying both sides were not close in talks to re-sign playoff revelation Sean Bergenheim, a UFA July 1. The agent concurred Tuesday.

"We have a different set of opinion in terms of the value of Sean. That's basically it," agent Todd Diamond told ESPN.com. "We both agree he brings a value to the team, but the difficult part is agreeing on how much that's worth."

Sounds to us like Bergenheim and Diamond want to see what's out there July 1 before circling back to Yzerman.