Inside the tall glass atrium of Prudential Center on Tuesday, well-dressed people smiled and congratulated one another for the 17-year, $102 million contract the Devils handed to Ilya Kovalchuk. Beyond the security guard at the closed door of the news conference, the midday din of a struggling city could not be heard. But a block away, over on chaotic Broad Street across from City Hall, about 20 workers picketed and blew whistles. They wore signs, sandwich-board style, that read 'Put Newark to Work' and 'Living Wages Would Stop Foreclosures in Newark.' The unemployment rate in Newark, New Jersey's largest city, was estimated at 13.5 percent in May. It was 9.5 percent across the country. Joe Rizzo, an organizer from the Laborers' Union, said he had heard something about the Kovalchuk deal. For the Devils, right? 'What gets me a little upset is when you relate it to what's happening in the real world,' Rizzo said. The juxtaposition of Kovalchuk's proposed deal was striking, on the streets and in the headlines. Like the hyper-hyped LeBron James free-agent sweepstakes a couple of weeks earlier, the Kovalchuk announcement felt like an unseemly fantasy diversion amid the rat-a-tat news of unemployment, foreclosures and battered school budgets. When the Kovalchuk deal was announced Monday, the website for The Star-Ledger newspaper (NJ.com) ran side-by-side headlines that highlighted the growing discrepancy between the real world and the sports world. 'N.J. faces $10.5B budget deficit heading into next year,' one read. 'Here are the official numbers on Ilya Kovalchuk's 17-year, $102 million deal with the Devils,' said the other. Kovalchuk, a 27-year-old Russian who has scored 338 goals in eight NHL seasons, would be paid $6 million each of the next two years. His salary would jump to $11.5 million for the next five years. Starting in 2018, the salary would start to drop, petering out to $550,000 in each of the final five years. The deal would be is the longest contract in NHL history -- 'I'll be only 44 at that time,' Kovalchuk said Tuesday with a straight face -- but was considered a ploy against the NHL's salary cap, which limits how much teams can spend on players each season. Later Tuesday, the league rejected the contract, meaning it will have to be restructured before it can be made official. When cap amounts are computed, teams are charged the yearly average of each contract, meaning that Kovalchuk's deal would count for $6 million a year. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, trying to mend the state budget through major cuts (last week, he proposed reducing and capping the salaries of hundreds of school superintendents) and fiscal restraint, declined to comment on Kovalchuk's contract. After Tuesday's news conference, the Devils' chairman, Jeff Vanderbeek, said that requests for Devils season tickets had surged overnight. He explained that a recession in the world at large and a $102 million contract for a hockey franchise were 'not apples to apples.' After all, the Devils must fit their entire roster under a cap of about $59.4 million this season, and the team undertook an extensive cost-benefit analysis. Such a contract, Vanderbeek said, 'is not directly correlated to our economy.' Still, people on the streets of Newark, within a block or two of the arena where the Devils play, seemed dumbstruck to learn that a player received such a long, hefty contract during these times. Most did not know the player's name ('Starts with a V, I think,' Williams Spinks said) and had never been to a Devils game. Haqqah Aziz sold $2 hot dogs on Broad Street, a carnival of people selling and standing, hawking and talking. 'All you've got to do is say, 'I got one job,' and I'll get 500 people in one hour, right here,' Aziz said. Had he walked the block to the arena -- maybe down Market Street, where about half of the stores sat empty and shuttered by metal gates -- he would have found a different slice of life entirely. On the far side of the arena, there was a large catering truck and a line of television trucks. Three men in dark suits walked down the sidewalk, one carrying flowers intended for Kovalchuk's wife. About 25 people were lined up awaiting the evening's 'American Idol' concert at the arena, while about the same number of Devils fans milled about on the concrete plaza outside the atrium. A few wore Kovalchuk jerseys. A couple of the fans bought the shirts when he was traded to the team from the Atlanta Thrashers during last season. The others bought theirs Monday night or Tuesday, after the first reports of the deal. At 1 p.m., 12 video cameras were aimed at a dais with four seats and a Devils backdrop. A few of Kovalchuk's teammates -- forwards Zach Parise and Patrik Elias and goalie Martin Brodeur among them -- sat in front-row chairs. The fans from outside were welcomed in, and they stood near the back. One man held a baby who cried. Or cheered. Something. Kovalchuk entered, smiling sheepishly. He was accompanied by Vanderbeek ('The man who signs the checks,' Kovalchuk called him); General Manager Lou Lamoriello; and John MacLean, the recently hired coach. They smiled. People smiled back at them. Outside the glass windows, a couple pushed a stroller, the man carrying a crib mattress under one arm. Over on Broad Street across from City Hall, the union pickets had packed up their giant inflatable rat and skunk and the huge sign that read 'Put Newark to Work.' The street was filled with noise -- women selling ice cream ringing bells to attract customers to their helado carts, the rush of traffic, a siren echoing off the old buildings. For a few moments, it rained. 