diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/hfile/slab/SlabCache.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/hfile/slab/SlabCache.java
index a4ded225a69..0fd51a525f5 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/hfile/slab/SlabCache.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/hfile/slab/SlabCache.java
@@ -61,10 +61,8 @@ public class SlabCache implements SlabItemActionWatcher, BlockCache, HeapSize {
   static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(SlabCache.class);
   static final int STAT_THREAD_PERIOD_SECS = 60 * 5;
 
-  private final ScheduledExecutorService scheduleThreadPool = Executors
-      .newScheduledThreadPool(1,
-          new ThreadFactoryBuilder().setNameFormat("Slab Statistics #%d")
-              .build());
+  private final ScheduledExecutorService scheduleThreadPool = Executors.newScheduledThreadPool(1,
+      new ThreadFactoryBuilder().setDaemon(true).setNameFormat("Slab Statistics #%d").build());
 
   long size;
   private final CacheStats stats;