diff --git a/src/main/java/com/inteligr8/maven/model/Regex.java b/src/main/java/com/inteligr8/maven/model/Regex.java
index 27c9f61..f9cb442 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/inteligr8/maven/model/Regex.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/inteligr8/maven/model/Regex.java
@@ -39,7 +39,8 @@ public class Regex implements Normalizable {
 	
 	@Override
 	public void normalize() {
-		// do not trim
+		if (this.replacement == null)
+			this.replacement = "";
 	}
 
 }