[4] Mäkinen joined the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs women's ice hockey program in January of the 2014–15 season.

Rather than return to the NCAA, Mäkinen opted to remain in Finland for the 2015–16 season and played with Ilves Naiset.

In May 2018, she announced that she was signing with Linköping HC in Sweden, taking over the starting position from the retiring Florence Schelling.

[4] She made her debut on the senior Finland women's national ice hockey team in August 2013 with a 4–1 victory over Japan.

On the question of hitting in women's hockey, she has stated that "right now it’s really hard for the refs to differentiate what ‘contact’ means.