--- old/src/hotspot/share/c1/c1_Canonicalizer.cpp	2019-01-08 13:57:14.666499372 -0800
+++ new/src/hotspot/share/c1/c1_Canonicalizer.cpp	2019-01-08 13:57:14.490492827 -0800
@@ -649,7 +649,8 @@
 void Canonicalizer::do_NewObjectArray (NewObjectArray*  x) {}
 void Canonicalizer::do_NewMultiArray  (NewMultiArray*   x) {}
 void Canonicalizer::do_CheckCast      (CheckCast*       x) {
-  if (x->klass()->is_loaded()) {
+  if (x->klass()->is_loaded() && !x->is_never_null()) {
+    // Don't canonicalize for non-nullable types -- we need to throw NPE.
     Value obj = x->obj();
     ciType* klass = obj->exact_type();
     if (klass == NULL) {