diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/store/IndicesStore.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/store/IndicesStore.java
index f4985c24233..59b3d871075 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/store/IndicesStore.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/store/IndicesStore.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import org.apache.lucene.store.StoreRateLimiting;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterChangedEvent;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterService;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterStateListener;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.node.DiscoveryNode;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.routing.IndexRoutingTable;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.routing.IndexShardRoutingTable;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.routing.ShardRouting;
@@ -37,7 +38,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.index.service.IndexService;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.ShardId;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.IndicesService;
 import org.elasticsearch.node.settings.NodeSettingsService;
-import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
+import org.elasticsearch.transport.TransportService;
 
 import java.io.File;
 
@@ -78,6 +79,7 @@ public class IndicesStore extends AbstractComponent implements ClusterStateListe
     private final IndicesService indicesService;
 
     private final ClusterService clusterService;
+    private final TransportService transportService;
 
     private volatile String rateLimitingType;
     private volatile ByteSizeValue rateLimitingThrottle;
@@ -86,12 +88,15 @@ public class IndicesStore extends AbstractComponent implements ClusterStateListe
     private final ApplySettings applySettings = new ApplySettings();
 
     @Inject
-    public IndicesStore(Settings settings, NodeEnvironment nodeEnv, NodeSettingsService nodeSettingsService, IndicesService indicesService, ClusterService clusterService, ThreadPool threadPool) {
+    public IndicesStore(Settings settings, NodeEnvironment nodeEnv, NodeSettingsService nodeSettingsService, IndicesService indicesService,
+                        ClusterService clusterService, TransportService transportService) {
         super(settings);
         this.nodeEnv = nodeEnv;
         this.nodeSettingsService = nodeSettingsService;
         this.indicesService = indicesService;
         this.clusterService = clusterService;
+        this.transportService = transportService;
+
         // we limit with 20MB / sec by default with a default type set to merge sice 0.90.1
         this.rateLimitingType = componentSettings.get("throttle.type", StoreRateLimiting.Type.MERGE.name());
         rateLimiting.setType(rateLimitingType);
@@ -141,15 +146,17 @@ public class IndicesStore extends AbstractComponent implements ClusterStateListe
                             break;
                         }
 
-                        // if the allocated or relocation node id doesn't exists in the cluster state, its a stale
-                        // node, make sure we don't do anything with this until the routing table has properly been
+                        // if the allocated or relocation node id doesn't exists in the cluster state or we're not connected to it
+                        // it may be a stale node, make sure we don't do anything with this until the routing table has properly been
                         // rerouted to reflect the fact that the node does not exists
-                        if (!event.state().nodes().nodeExists(shardRouting.currentNodeId())) {
+                        DiscoveryNode node = event.state().nodes().get(shardRouting.currentNodeId());
+                        if (node == null || !transportService.nodeConnected(node)) {
                             shardCanBeDeleted = false;
                             break;
                         }
                         if (shardRouting.relocatingNodeId() != null) {
-                            if (!event.state().nodes().nodeExists(shardRouting.relocatingNodeId())) {
+                            node = event.state().nodes().get(shardRouting.relocatingNodeId());
+                            if (node == null || !transportService.nodeConnected(node)) {
                                 shardCanBeDeleted = false;
                                 break;
                             }