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 7ddbfaacf080..3b413ef8ae00 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
@@ -2001,7 +2001,9 @@ public void close() {
       this.metrics.shutdown();
     }
     this.closed = true;
-    registry.close();
+    if (this.registry != null) {
+      registry.close();
+    }
     this.stubs.clear();
     if (clusterStatusListener != null) {
       clusterStatusListener.close();