diff --git a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/ConnectionImplementation.java b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/ConnectionImplementation.java
index 9145c55c0a4..cfbc19cc30f 100644
--- a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/ConnectionImplementation.java
+++ b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/ConnectionImplementation.java
@@ -2116,7 +2116,9 @@ class ConnectionImplementation implements ClusterConnection, Closeable {
       this.metrics.shutdown();
     }
     this.closed = true;
-    registry.close();
+    if (this.registry != null) {
+      registry.close();
+    }
     this.stubs.clear();
     if (clusterStatusListener != null) {
       clusterStatusListener.close();