D.J. Jones was in his 16th season with Rockford and 14th with the Blackhawks. He joined Rockford in 2006-07, when it was part of the United Hockey League.
ESPN was first to report the story Sunday.
"Under our new leadership, we have made it crystal clear that nothing is more important than the safety and well-being of our players and employees, and there is a zero-tolerance policy for any violation of our standards of conduct in our organization," the Blackhawks said in a statement. "We have done a lot of work to ensure an environment where employees are encouraged to feel safe coming forward, even if it is about wrongdoing that occurred in the past.
"Recently, when allegations of sexual harassment in 2014 by D.J. Jones, the head athletic trainer for the Rockford IceHogs, were reported to the Blackhawks on Oct. 27, 2021, we adhered to our new protocols and procedures, suspended Mr. Jones, conducted an in-depth investigation over 5 days and, following the conclusive results, terminated Mr. Jones on Nov. 3, 2021."
The allegations were reported one day after the law firm of Jenner & Block, LLP, released its findings of an independent investigation of former Blackhawks prospect Kyle Beach's allegations of sexual assault by then-assistant Brad Aldrich in 2010.
The Blackhawks were fined $2 million, and Stan Bowman was out as president of hockey operations and general manager Oct. 27. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the fine was the result of the Blackhawks' "inadequate internal procedures and insufficient and untimely response in the handling of matters" related to the incident.
Bowman was replaced by Kyle Davidson, who joined the Blackhawks in 2010 as a hockey operations intern and was named assistant GM of hockey administration prior to this season.
The Blackhawks are interviewing candidates for their general manager position. Jeff Greenberg, assistant GM of the Chicago Cubs, completed an interview, the team said Monday. Greenberg joined the Cubs as a baseball operations intern in 2012, and was director of pro scouting and baseball operations, director of baseball operations and assistant to the GM before he was promoted to his current position in 2020.
Peter Chiarelli was interviewed Sunday. The Blackhawks spoke with Scott Mellanby, Davidson and Carolina Hurricanes assistant GM Eric Tulsky last week.
Chiarelli has been vice president of hockey operations for the St. Louis Blues since Sept. 22. He was GM of the Boston Bruins from 2006-15, helping build the teams that won the Stanley Cup in 2011 and reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2013. He was GM of the Edmonton Oilers from 2015-19.
Mellanby was assistant GM for the Montreal Canadiens from 2014-21 after being their director of player personnel from 2012-14. He resigned in November. The Canadiens advanced to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, losing the best-of-7 series to the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games.
Tulsky is in his eighth season with the Hurricanes and second as assistant GM. He was previously vice president of hockey management and strategy.
John Walter is listed as Rockford's head athletic trainer on the team's website. Walter joined Rockford as assistant athletic trainer during the 2018-19 season after being head athletic trainer at Boylan Catholic High School in Rockford, Illinois, for 26 years.
