Jim Rutherford misses his old job.
A lot.
He misses the people with whom he worked with the Penguins.
He misses the unrivaled excitement of game days.
He misses the challenge of trying to construct a roster that could win a Stanley Cup.
But he doesn't regret leaving it all.
Rutherford stunned the hockey world by resigning as general manager of the Penguins on Jan. 27, and still declines to discuss what was behind his abrupt departure.
He does not, however, have any misgivings about moving on.
"I don't think 'regrets' is the right word," he said. "I'm not going to probably ever get into any details of why I did it, but the good thing is, the timing of it was OK. It's never ideal during the season, but it gave the team enough time to get other people (Ron Hextall and Brian Burke) in place to do what they wanted to do with the team to keep it going in a successful way.
"As much as I liked being with the Penguins and think that still being there would be OK, the reasons I decided to do it, I feel comfortable with."
Rutherford said his current absence from the game is his longest since the break between the end of his playing career and his first off-ice position with the Compuware program in Michigan -- "I retired, I believe, in February (1983) and I didn't go to work until the day after Labor Day," he said -- but he seems optimistic that it won't go on much longer.
"A decision could come here sometime in the near future," he said.
Rutherford did not say which team(s) he has discussed a position with, and said he wouldn't necessarily be a GM. Indeed, filling that role would not be his first choice.
"I certainly don't want to push anybody out of a job," he said. "If there's an opening as a manager or president of hockey operations or an adviser, that's what I would look at. I would say the president of hockey operations would be the preference. Adviser would probably be second and the GM's role would be third."
Although he is 72, Rutherford said he would have no qualms about again taking on the demands to go with being a GM, even if that wouldn't be his job of choice.
"I'm confident I could still do it," he said. "I still have the energy and the will to win. I still feel very confident that I could do that position if someone wanted me to do it."
And make no mistake, he is keenly aware of the stresses, both personal and professional, that go with running a hockey department.
"There are parts of the job that aren't easy and aren't fun, but they're part of the job," Rutherford said, chuckling. "You look at it two ways: You look at the good and the bad, like anything. There are tough parts of that job that people don't understand.
"As long as I've done it, it takes a toll on the family. You have to have very special people in your family to be able to understand the ups and downs and the time you put into it and why at night you, instead of sitting and watching a movie with the family, you're sitting and watching all of the hockey games until 1 in the morning.
"That being said, there's more good to being involved. I loved doing it. I loved the successful years, and I've missed that part."
When Rutherford was hired to succeed Ray Shero in 2014, his conversations with team president David Morehouse revolved around him "coming to Pittsburgh for a couple of years."
He ended up being the Penguins' GM for nearly seven, and made personnel moves that contributed to their Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017.
It's no surprise, then, that despite his stunning departure, Rutherford looks back fondly on his time as GM.
"I miss being part of the game and what I've been used to doing for a long time," he said. "I miss the Penguins, the people there and the way I was treated and the people that I worked with.
"As time goes on, you get to reflect on things more, and my position has never changed: The Penguins were always good to me. I miss what I've really enjoyed doing since I came here to Pittsburgh."