diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRef.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRef.scala
index afa7299669..e62a04938a 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRef.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRef.scala
@@ -381,7 +381,7 @@ class DeadLetterActorRef(val eventStream: EventStream) extends MinimalActorRef {
 
   override def isTerminated(): Boolean = true
 
-  override def !(message: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = null): Unit = message match {
+  override def !(message: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = this): Unit = message match {
     case d: DeadLetter ⇒ eventStream.publish(d)
     case _             ⇒ eventStream.publish(DeadLetter(message, sender, this))
   }
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/NettyRemoteSupport.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/NettyRemoteSupport.scala
index cf922feafe..d12f5ea7e4 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/NettyRemoteSupport.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/NettyRemoteSupport.scala
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@ class ActiveRemoteClientHandler(
   val client: ActiveRemoteClient)
   extends SimpleChannelUpstreamHandler {
 
-  def runOnceNow(thunk: ⇒ Unit) = timer.newTimeout(new TimerTask() {
+  def runOnceNow(thunk: ⇒ Unit): Unit = timer.newTimeout(new TimerTask() {
     def run(timeout: Timeout) = try { thunk } finally { timeout.cancel() }
   }, 0, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)